Method for completing internet telephony calls

ABSTRACT

A call between a calling party and a called party, one or both of whom may be subscribers to Internet Telephony (IT) services, commences upon the receipt of a call dialed by the calling party to the Plain Old Telephony Service (POTS) number associated with the calling party. A first hub receives the call and routes it to the called party if that party is not an IT services subscriber that is currently on line. If the called party is an IT services subscriber that is on-line, the call is received at an Internet Services Provider serving the called party. The ISP converts the call to an IT format if the call is not already in that format and thereafter delivers the call to the called party.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/011,463 filed Dec. 14, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,567,551, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/030,601 filed Feb.25, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,847,631. The aforementioned related patentapplications are herein incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a technique for efficiently completing a callfrom a calling party to a called party, one or both of who may subscribeto Internet Telephony services.

BACKGROUND ART

Telephony service over the Internet remains still remains in its infancyfor a variety of reasons. One major impediment remains the problem ofcompleting calls in an efficient and economical manner between callingand called parties, one or both of whom may be subscribers of InternetTelephony (IT) services. For example, the calling party will not know ifthe called party is on line. Indeed, the calling party may need toinitially call the called party using the Public Switched TelephoneNetwork (PSTN), such as PSTN maintained by AT&T, to request the calledparty go on line to complete an Internet Call. Most importantly, thereis presently no way to automatically interlink between the PSTN and theInternet in an efficient manner. Instead, the caller must resort totrial and error. Also, there is presently no way to complete calls froma subscriber of Plain Ordinary Telephone Service (POTS) to an ITsubscriber who is on-line.

Presently, a caller seeking to make a call over the Internet to a calledparty must also know the specific Internet Protocol (IP) address of thecalled party. Only by entering the particular IP address of the calledparty can the calling party launch an Internet telephone call. Not everycalling party will remember the IP address for a particular calledparty. While there are services/servers that can do such mapping usingan arbitrary text string, such as the caller's name, both the callingand called parties must subscribe to such service/servers and mustutilize special software on their computers. Once the subscriber logson, the software communicates the corresponding IP address to theserver. In contrast, the calling party typically knows, or can easilyretrieve the conventional seven or ten-digit Plain Old Telephony Service(POTS) number of the called party. However, to date, the called party'sPOTS number has played no role in IT.

Thus, there is a need for a technique for completing calls over theInternet in an economical, efficient manner, while taking advantage ofthe called party's conventional POTS telephone number.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly, the present invention provides a technique for completing acall between calling and called parties, one or both of whom may be ITsubscribers. The method commences upon receipt of a call from thecalling party dialed to the POTS number of the called party. A firsthub, such as a local office in the event the calling party is a POTSsubscriber, or an Internet Service Provider (ISP), in the event thecalling party is an IT subscriber, receives and routes the call to thecalled party if the called party is not an IT services subscriber and isnot on line. If the called party is an IT services subscriber and ison-line, the first hub offers the call to Internet Services Provider(ISP) serving the called party, as determined by the called party's POTSnumber. The ISP serving the call party converts the call to an IT formatif the call is not presently in such a format and then delivers the callto the called party.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 illustrates a block schematic diagram of a network, in accordancewith the invention, for completing IT calls in accordance with thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 depicts a network 10 for completing calls from one or moreoriginating communications devices 12, 14, and 16 to one or morerecipient communications devices 18, 20, and 22 in accordance with theinvention. In the illustrated embodiment, the communications devices12-20 may each take the form of a voice station set or a multi-mediaterminal, in the form of a computer or the like, each capable of dialingthe POTS number of the called party irrespective of whether that partyis a subscriber of IT services. Each of the originating communicationdevices 12, 14, and 16 receives local telephone service (i.e., dialtone) via a first local telephone switch within a first local office 24maintained by a first local exchange carrier. Those of the originatingcommunication devices 12, 14, and 16 that are multi-media terminalstypically gain access to the Internet 26 through a first InternetService Provider (ISP) 28, such as AT&T Worldnet Services, via a dial-uplink through the first local office 24. (Under some circumstances, oneor more of communications devices 12, 14, and 16 that are multi-mediaterminals could directly connect with the ISP 28 rather than gaindial-up access through the first local office 24.)

The recipient communications 18, 20, and 22 receive local telephoneservice (i.e., dial tone) via a local switch at a second local office30. Those of the originating communication devices 18, 20 and 22 thatare multi-media terminals typically gain access to the Internet 26through a second Internet Service Provider (ISP) 32 via a dial-up linkthrough the second local office 30. (Under some circumstances, one ormore of the communications devices 18, 20, and 22 that are multi-mediaterminals could directly connect with the ISP 28 rather than gaindial-up access through the second local office 30.) While FIG. 1 depictsseparate ISPs 28 and 32 for providing Internet access to those of thecommunication devices 12, 14, and 16, and 18, 20, and 22, respectively,that are multi-media terminals, a single ISP could provide such access,depending on the geographic proximity of such multi-media terminals.

In the exemplary embodiment, the second local office 30 resides in aLocal Access Transport Area (LATA) different from the LATA of the firstoffice 24. Since the local offices 24 and 30 lie in different LATAs, anInter-Exchange (IXC) network 34, such as the inter-exchange networkmaintained by AT&T, provides inter-exchange service for carrying callsoriginating at the local office 24 in the first LATA that are destinedfor the second office 30 in the second LATA. Instead of residing in asecond LATA, the local office 30 could reside in a foreign country.Under such circumstances, the local office 24 would route the call tothe IXC network 34 for routing to an international network 36, thatwould route the call to the local office 30. For a foreign local office30, the international network 36, rather than the IXC network 34, couldbe linked to the ISP 32 that serves one or more of the communicationsdevices 18-22, assuming that the ISP 32 were located overseas.

To best appreciate the manner in which the network 10 completes callsfrom a calling party to a calling party, one or both of whom may besubscribers to IT service, there are four possible scenarios:

-   1. An originating POTS call dialed to a POTS number of the called    party who is a subscriber of IT services but is “off line”;-   2. An originating POTS call dialed to the POTS number of an IT    services subscriber that is “on line”;-   3. An originating call from an IT services subscriber dialed to the    POTS number of a subscriber that does not subscribe to IT services;    and-   4. An originating call from an IT subscriber dialed to the POTS    number of an IT subscriber that is “on line”.    Scenario 1 Originating POTS Call to an IT Subscriber That Is Off    Line

A non-IT services subscriber, using one of the communication devices 12,14, and 16, originates a POTS call to the called party by dialing thatparty's POTS number. (For purposes of discussion, whether the call is aninter-exchange or local call does not matter.) The local office 24receives the call and from the dialed number, the local officedetermines whether the call is local or an inter-exchange call. If thecall is local, the local office 24 accesses a dialed number database 38,such as a Segmentation Directory (SD). For a more complete understandingof the nature of the SD, reference should be had to U.S. Pat. No.5,473,677, issued on Dec. 5, 1995, in the name of Peter D'Amato et al.and assigned to AT&T. (herein incorporated by reference). The SD 38contains a record for each dialed number indicating whether the callrequires special processing, and if so, the identity of the directorycontaining the instructions for processing the call. If the SD 38determines that the call requires no special processing, the SD informsthe local office 24 accordingly, and the local office treats the call asan ordinary POTS call for routing within its LATA.

Should the local office 24 determine that the received call is a longdistance call, the local office routes the call to the IXC network 34.Upon receipt of the call, the IXC network 34 launches an inquiry to theSD 38. If the SD 38 determines that the call requires no specialprocessing, the SD informs to the IXC network 34, which then routes thecall to the local office, say, local office 30, serving the calledparty.

If the SD 38 determines the dialed number requires special processing,then the SD launches an inquiry to the directory that contains thenecessary call processing instructions. For example, when the SD 38determines that the dialed number recipient subscribes to IT services,as indicated by a cross-reference to a directory (i.e., directory 40)associated with such services, the SD launches an inquiry to thatdirectory. The directory 40 responds with the necessary call processinginstructions to either to the local office 24 or to the IXC network 34,depending on which one made the initial inquiry to the SD 38.

The call processing instructions supplied by the directory 40 includethe identity of the ISP serving the called party (e.g., ISP 32). Uponreceipt of the identity of the called party's ISP, the local office 24(or the IXC network 34, for an inter-exchange call) launches an inquiry,typically via an SS7 signaling link (not shown), to the called party'sISP 32 to determine whether the called party is presently on-line. Ifthe called party is on line, then the local office 24 (or the IXCnetwork 34 if the call is long distance) offers (transfers) the call,either by direct routing, or via a signaling message, to thecalled-party's ISP 32 for conversion to an IT call for receipt by thecalled party. If the called party is not on line, then the ISP 32“cranks back” the call to the local office 24 (or the IXC network 34)which then routes the call to the called party via the called party'slocal office 30.

Rather than utilize the local office 24 (or IXC 34) to launch an inquiryto SD 38, the local office or IXC network could simply route the call tothe called party's POTS number through the called party's local office30 irrespective of whether the called party is an IT services subscriberor not. In other words, the local office 24 (or the IXC network 34) neednot initially establish whether or not the called party subscribes to ITservices in advance of routing the call to the called party. However, tofacilitate IT services in accordance with the invention without priorknowledge of the called party's service status, the called party mustsubscribe to “Remote Call Forwarding on Busy”, whereby a call dialed tothe called party's POTS number forwards automatically to that party'sISP 32. Most local telephone service providers offer this service as anoption. When the called party is not busy and is available to answer thephone, the called party will presumably answer the call dialed to thatparty's POTS number, as routed through the called party's local office30. Hence, the call initiated by the calling party proceeds in theconventional manner as a POTS call for receipt at the called party'slocal office 30.

However, when the called party is busy, the called party's local office30 now automatically routes the call to the called party's ISP 32 thatthen checks whether the called party is currently on-line. If so, thecalled party's ISP 32 converts the POTS call to an IT call and thendelivers it to the called party's multi-media terminal. If the calledparty is not on line, but is otherwise busy, the ISP 32 may respond witha busy signal. Alternatively, if the called party so desires, the ISP 32may forward the call to a messaging platform 42 to allow the callingparty to leave a message. Additionally, the subscriber could alsosubscribe to “Remote Call Forwarding on No-Answer” so that upon ano-answer condition, the called party's local office 30 forwards thecall to the called party's ISP 32, which, then checks whether the calledparty is on-line. Since the called party isn't on-line, the calledparty's ISP 32 forwards the call to the messaging platform 42. Inpractice, the called party can access the messages stored by themessaging platform 42, either via the Internet 26, or if the platformhas dial-up access, via a conventional POTS call.

Scenario 2 Originating POTS Call to an On-Line IT Services Subscriber

Assume the calling party initiates a POTS call to a called party whosubscribes to IT services, but is now on-line. Under such circumstances,call processing initially proceeds as previously described withScenario 1. In other words, the local office 24 (or the IXC 34 for aninter-exchange call) receives the POTS call and thereafter launches aninquiry to the SD 38. If the SD 38 determines the dialed numbercorresponds to a called party that subscribes to IT services, the SDlaunches an inquiry to the directory 40. In response, the directory 40responds by providing the identity of the called party's ISP 32 inaccordance with the called party's POTS number dialed by the callingparty. Upon receipt of the called party's ISP identity, the local office24 (or the IXC 34) launches an inquiry to the called party's ISP 32 todetermine if the called party is on line. If so, the local office 24 (orIXC network 32) offers the call to the called party's ISP 32 thatconverts the call to an IT call for delivery to the called party.

Alternatively, rather than launch an inquiry to the SD 38, the localoffice 24 (or the IXC network 32) could simply route the call to thecalled party's local office 30 irrespective of the called party'sstatus. As discussed, under such circumstances, the called party mustsubscribe to Remote Call Forwarding on Busy. Assuming that the calledparty is busy because that party is on line, the called party's localoffice 30 forwards call to the called party's ISP 32. Upon receipt ofthe call, the ISP 32 checks its record of logged-on subscribers.Assuming the called party is on line, the ISP 32 confirms the calledparty's status and then converts the received call to an IT call fordelivery to the called party. In delivering the IT call to the calledparty, the ISP 32 may provide an alert on the called party's multi-mediaterminal, either in the form of a visual or audible message or both.After delivery of the call, the calling and call parties can converseusing standard Internet Protocols. Note that if the called party doesnot answer, the ISP 32 can forward the call to the message platform 42as discussed for subsequent retrieval.

As discussed with respect to Scenario 1, if the calling and calledparties reside in different LATAs, the local office 24 initiallyreceiving the call thereafter routes it to the IXC network 34. In turn,the IXC network 34 will route the call to the called party's localoffice 30 for subsequent forwarding to the called party's ISP 32. Undersuch circumstances, the IXC network 34 will incur an access fee chargedby the called party's local office 30. Rather than incur such an accessfee, the IXC network 34 could forward the call directly to the calledparty's ISP 32 in the manner described earlier, by accessing the SD 38which, in turn, would access the directory 40. In response to theinquiry from the SD 38, the directory 40 responds to the IXC network 34with the identity of the called party's ISP 32, as determined from thecalled party's POTS number dialed by the calling party. Knowing theidentity of the called party's ISP 32, the IXC network could forward thecall to the ISP directly, rather than to the called party's local office30, thus incurring no access charge for egress.

Scenario 3 Originating Internet Call to Terminating POTS Subscriber

Under this scenario, an IT services subscriber initiates a call, via oneof the communications devices 12, 14, and 16 comprising a multi-mediaterminal, to a POTS subscriber. The calling party initiates such a callby dialing the called party's POTS number. Since calling party iscurrently on-line, the calling party's ISP 28 receives the call. Inresponse, the ISP 28 checks its records to determine if the called partyis an IT subscriber and is served by the ISP. Since the called party isa POTS subscriber, the ISP 28 will not find the called party among itsIT subscribers. Under such circumstances, the ISP 28 converts the callto a POTS call and forwards the call to either to the local office 24 orto the IXC network 34. (By forwarding the call to the IXC network 34,the ISP 28 avoids originating access charges.) Upon receipt of the call,the local office 24 (or the IXC 34) routes the call as an ordinary POTScall to the called party's local office 30 for delivery to the calledparty in a convention manner as is known.

Scenario 4 Originating Internet to Terminating Internet (Called Party Ison Line)

Under this scenario, the calling party initiates an IT call from his/hermulti-media terminal by dialing the POTS number of the called party. Thecalling party need not know whether the called party is on line. Uponreceipt of the call, the calling party's ISP 28 checks its database todetermine if the called party is among the IT services subscribersserved by that ISP. If so, the ISP 28 forwards the call as an IT call ina known manner. If the calling party's ISP 28 determines that the calledparty is not among the IT services subscribers it serves, the ISPconverts the call to a POTS call and forwards it to the local office 24(or the IXC network 34 to avoid access charges.)

Upon receipt of the call, the local office 24 (or the IXC 34) followsthe process described previously whereby the local office or IXC networkconsults the SD 38, which, in turn, queries the directory 40. Inresponse, the directory 40 provides call processing instructions thatinclude the identity of the called party's ISP 32. The local office 24(or the IXC network 34) then transfers the call to the called party'sISP 32, either via a signaling inquiry or by directly routing the call.Upon receiving the call, the called party's ISP 32 checks its databaseof on-line subscribers. If the called party is on-line, the ISP 32converts the call to an Internet call and routes it to the called party.

Rather than route the call to either the local office 24 (or the IXCnetwork 34), the calling party's ISP 28 could route the call over theInternet 26 directly to the called party's ISP 32. First, the ISP 28would check its records of on-line subscribers as previously described.If the called party is not among the list of on-line subscribers, thecalling party's ISP 28 launches an inquiry to the SD directory 38 inexactly the same manner as discussed for the local office 24 and IXCnetwork 34. In response the SD 38 queries the directory 40 which thenresponds to the ISP 28 with the identity of the called party's ISP 32.The calling party's ISP 28 then signals the called party's ISP 32 todetermine whether the called party is on line. If so, then the callproceeds as an IT call and is completed accordingly. Otherwise, thecalling party's ISP 28 routes the call to the IXC network 34 forcompletion in the manner discussed previously in Scenario 3.

To process IT calls in the manner discussed above, the calling andcalled party's ISPs 28 and 32, respectively, each must possess anadjunct capable of converting conventional POTS to calls IT calls andvice versa. Such adjuncts exist. An example of such an adjunct is theadjunct used by AT&T for Internet Enhanced Telephony Services. Also, theoriginating local office and the IXC network 34 (as well as theoriginating ISP) must have access to a dialed number database, such asthe SD 38 capable of accessing the directory 40 containing IT servicescall processing information. The directory 40 could easily comprise aconventional 2NCP directory presently existing in AT&T's IXC network.Lastly Remote Call Forwarding is a well known service available frommost local service providers.

The foregoing describes a technique for efficient and economicallycompleting IT calls between a called and called parties, one or both ofwho may be IT services subscribers.

The above-described embodiments are merely illustrative of theprinciples of the invention. Those skilled in the art may make variousmodifications and changes that will embody the principles of theinvention and fall within the spirit and scope thereof.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for completing a call dialed froma calling party to a plain old telephony service number associated witha called party, comprising: receiving, via a hub, the call dialed to theplain old telephony service number associated with the called party in atelecommunications network; determining, via a hub, whether the calledparty is an internet telephony service subscriber and is on-line,wherein the determining uses the plain old telephony service number toidentify an identity of an internet service provider serving the calledparty; forwarding, via a hub, the call to the called party via theinternet service provider serving the called party if the called partyis an internet telephony service subscriber and is on-line; and routing,via a hub, the call to the called party if the called party is off-line.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the hub comprises the internet serviceprovider serving the calling party.
 3. The method of claim 2, whereinthe call is received at the internet service provider serving thecalling party when the calling party is an internet telephony servicesubscriber who originates the call from a multi-media terminal.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, wherein the internet service provider serving thecalling party routes the call across the Internet to the internetservice provider serving the called party when the called party is aninternet telephony service subscriber and is on-line; and in the eventthe called party is off-line, the internet service provider serving thecalling party routes the call to an inter-exchange network.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, wherein the internet service provider serving thecalling party consults a dialed number database to determine theidentity of the internet service provider serving the called party inorder to route the call to the internet service provider serving thecalled party.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the internet serviceprovider serving the calling party launches a signaling inquiry to theinternet service provider serving the called party to determine if thecalled party is on-line.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein theforwarding comprises: converting the call to an internet telephonyformat if the call is not presently in the internet telephony format;and delivering the call in the internet telephony format to the calledparty.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the call comprises aninter-exchange call and is routed through an inter-exchange network. 9.The method of claim 8, further comprising: routing the call to theinternet service provider serving the called party via theinter-exchange network to avoid access charges when the called party isan internet telephony service subscriber and is presently on-line. 10.The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving the call initiallyfrom the calling party at a first local telephone office; routing thecall to an inter-exchange network; and launching an inquiry to a dialednumber database from an inter-exchange carrier associated with theinter-exchange network.
 11. A system for completing a call dialed from acalling party to a plain old telephony service number associated with acalled party, comprising: a hub for receiving the call dialed to theplain old telephony service number associated with the called party in atelecommunications network, for determining whether the called party isan internet telephony subscriber and is on-line, wherein the determininguses the plain old telephony service number to identify an identity ofan internet service provider serving the called party, for forwardingthe call to the called party via the internet service provider servingthe called party if the called party is an internet telephony subscriberand is on-line, and for routing the call to the called party if thecalled party is off-line.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein thereceiving is performed at the internet service provider serving thecalling party.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the forwardingcomprises: converting the call to an internet telephony format if thecall is not presently in the internet telephony format; and deliveringthe call in the internet telephony format to the called party.
 14. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the call comprises an inter-exchange calland is routed through an inter-exchange network.
 15. The system of claim14, further comprising: routing the call to the internet serviceprovider serving the called party via the inter-exchange network toavoid access charges when the called party is an internet telephonyservice subscriber and is presently on-line.
 16. The system of claim 11,further comprising: receiving the call initially from the calling partyat the hub comprising a first local telephone office; routing the callto an inter-exchange network; and launching an inquiry to a dialednumber database from an inter-exchange carrier associated with theinter-exchange network.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein the call isreceived at the internet service provider serving the calling party whenthe calling party is an internet telephony service subscriber whooriginates the call from a multi-media terminal.
 18. The system of claim17, wherein the internet service provider serving the calling partyroutes the call across the internet to the internet service providerserving the called party when the called party is an internet telephonyservice subscriber and is on-line; and in the event the called party isoff-line, the internet service provider serving the calling party routesthe call to an inter-exchange network.
 19. The system of claim 18,wherein the internet service provider serving the calling party consultsa dialed number database to determine the identity of the internetservice provider serving the called party in order to route the call tothe ISP serving the called party.
 20. The system of claim 18, whereinthe internet service provider serving the calling party launches asignaling inquiry to the internet service provider serving the calledparty to determine if the called party is on-line.